Palaeontologist Darren Naish looks at the debate about the existence of creatures such as the Loch Ness monster, the yeti and big foot and explains a bit about cryptozoology – research into the sightings of these mythical beings.

The debate about these monsters and what they might actually be has been going on for centuries. Naish examines the evidence for these creatures – known as cryptids – and asks what they might be, if they exist at all, why they have been represented as they have and how cryptozoology has collected information to discover more about them.

Naish is a palaeontologist and popular science writer. He is co-author of the Dorling Kindersley Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life and of the Natural History Museum’s Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved, and sole author of The Great Dinosaur Discoveries.